Jeremy Corbyn has won – but this poll shows the scale of Labour’s challenge

Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected as Labour Party leader with an increased mandate. He has called for party unity in taking on the Conservative government.

New polling taken in the days before the result (September 21 and 22) by ComRes sums up the scale of he challenge for Labour.

Here are its findings:

Labour is seen as divided. Three quarters of those polled (74 per cent) say the Labour Party is now more divided than at any other time they can remember.

Some Labour voters are worried about entryism. One in three (35 per cent) of people who voted Labour in 2015 say they share former party leader Neil Kinnock’s concern about a hard-left takeover of the party, though more (36 per cent) say they do not. This follows two TV documentaries on the subject aired last week.

The Tories have a clear message. Nearly two thirds (65 per cent) say they know what the Conservative Party stands for, compared to just 45 per cent who say they know what Labour stands for. Sixty-three per cent said they know what UKIP stands for.

Theresa May is seen as a winner… Two thirds (65 per cent) think the Tories under May are more likely to win the next general election, compared to 16 per cent who think Labour under Corbyn will win.

…even by some Labour voters. More current Labour voters think the Tories will win a general election than think Labour will, by 42 per cent to 37 per cent.

She is seen as more of a unifier post-Brexit vote than Corbyn. Theresa May was said to be a better person to unite the country after the EU referendum than Jeremy Corbyn, by 56 per cent to 19 per cent.

And her ‘reformist’ PR is working. More than half (52 per cent) say Theresa May understands what ordinary people care about, compared to 14 per cent who said her predecessor, David Cameron, understood better.

Labour clearly has a mountain to climb in changing the image of the party and taking apart Theresa May’s clever positioning.

Meanwhile, ComRes also found half the public (50 per cent) think the government should start the process of leaving the EU as soon as possible. This included 57 per cent of Conservative voters and 81 per cent of UKIP voters.

Thirty-seven per cent said the government should take more time before starting the process.

5 Responses to “Jeremy Corbyn has won – but this poll shows the scale of Labour’s challenge”

Just Cann

Labour MPS should note that without labour party members selecting them as candidates they would not be labour MPs. So just remember party members are more important than you or any other single person in the labour party. Members have the right to use labour party rule to hold No Confidence vote in their MPs just like the MPs held No Confidence vote in Corbyn. And members have the right to use labour party rule to hold Trigger Ballot to reselect their MPs just like the MPs tried to reselect Corbyn by forcing a leadership election. So please no more dictating to the Labour Party members.

Dave Stewart

you are correct, MPs are there to represent their continents and not specifically party members, however those MPs cannot expect the support of their local labour party members or the party nationally when the next election comes. If they cannot maintain the support of their local party then they should not be running as labour candidates. It is labour party members who run and pay for their election campaigns and if they choose to treat those members with disdain then it is quite right that they should loose the support of the party and be forced to run as independents while another candidate who does have support of the CLP can run as the Labour candidate.

De-selecting an MP does not force them to stand down and it does not prevent them from running as an independent. So please stop peddling this idea that it is anti-democratic for de-selections of unpopular MPs to take place.

Having said that I would prefer it if there were no de-selections as I don’t think it will be particularly helpful for Labour but I do not have the right to dictate to CLPs as neither do sitting MPs either.